Split
by Arienis
Summary: When Kurama's spirit splits into two different people, the Reikai Tantei must hurry to find how to fix him before his spirit is permanently torn apart! Nightmares, alter egos, and fluffy kittens are in store for them...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Yu Yu Hakusho or anything else so do not sue me for lack of reason. I am practically broke!

Hello Fanfiction Readers! This is my first ever fanfiction story so please please please be nice. My story may be a little hard for some people to comprehend at first but I will try my hardest to let the story be understood.

Another note: I have not worked on this story for a couple of years now. However, I seem to have gained the spark again for this particular story so I am editing it as well as finishing it. Yes, you heard me.

FINISHING IT!

I hope to get it done as soon as possible. My writing style has probably changed slightly, but nothing to worry about. I must send a warm thank you to my readers and reviewers. And to everyone who just likes to read and not review, kudos for reading anyways. I am guilty of lurking as well.

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Chapter 1: Dreams 

Kurama's eyes snapped open as he awoke tangled up in his sleeping bag. Perspiration covered his shaky body and his breath was hitched. Tear tracks streamed down his face, surprising him. The only sounds he could hear were coming from his ragged gasps. Where was he? His emerald orbs scanned the room. Then he at last remembered. He was in his living room.

The teen tried to sit up. No such luck. He was wrapped from head to toe in that bag like a butterfly in it's cocoon. The difference was that the caterpillar, soon to be butterfly, encased itself voluntarily. Kurama would never admit to it, he would rather die than tell anyone, even his friends, that he had a phobia of this sort of thing. Constricting things around him, making simple breathing a task because of the straight-jacket effect. Both arms were sufficiently pinned underneath him, legs stuck together. Frustration built up as well as trepidation.

He would never, ever, ask anyone in the room for help. Not about this anyways, even though the tight blanket around him made his already racing heart to pound erratically in his ears. Why was this psyching him out? It was just a stupid blanket! He could face any demon, even the ones that could crush him into smithereens, yet where this lousy sheet was concerned, it could push him to panic. He bit his lip and concentrated on something else. The dream. Or nightmare, rather.

God, why was he having these nightmares? He carefully moved to the edge of the couch to pull his numb hands out from under him. They slid out and shook unsteadily. He sighed. Just having freed arms was a relief. Once the slightly tanned hands were held up in front of him, they tingled back to life, pinpricks of irritation running the length of his arms as needed blood circulated through.

For the past two weeks, he had been waking up from different dreams, all of them focused directly on his lies. More specific, the lies he weaved to his mother, the woman who should by all rights now everything about her beloved son. Yet he had a past, a terrible past that no one, especially his mother, should know.

Of course, his friends knew, but he could not prevent that anymore than he could prevent his dreams. Inevitable. That was the word.

In them, he saw himself doing ordinary things; at school working on a biology lab, doing his homework, cleaning the house. When suddenly, he would feel himself start to change into that person he once was.

It was almost like a second person inside of him. Yearning to be bad, to fight the law, to turn on everyone he cared about and just…leave. Of course he fought this side of himself with a passion. Leaving would get him no where in life.

But no matter what he did, in his dreams he would become Yoko once again. The worst part was that his friends and family would not know it was Yoko, not Kurama, not Suichii. They always ended up in the same place, before he woke up. They would be in a cold gray building, much like an interrogation room he had seen on a recent cop show. He would be strapped to a table as they attempted to save him. But as they thought they at last brought back their friend, Yoko would take over one last time. They would die, all of them, by his hand no less. It brought him to tears, and last week the images had been so disturbing he had actually gotten ill.

He forced the thoughts out of his mind. They were just dreams.

Snapping himself out of his reverie, he continued his efforts to heave himself out of the sleeping bag. First he attempted the method of rocking back and trying to grab the zipper all the way at his toes. This only resulted in hitting his head on the couch arm. He hissed a profanity to the silent room.

Nearby, Kuwabara grumbled something in his deep slumber. Kurama froze. He waited for a minute before starting again.

One time when he woke up from the nightmare, after he threw cold water on his face in an effort to clear his mind, he could see sparks of gold in his emerald eyes. Another time his hair had turned completely white. He could almost see ears sticking out from his mass of hair. But by morning, the abnormalities disappeared. They always did.

This time he did not want to see himself in a mirror. He was guessing his eyes, ears, and hair were all that of Yoko's, his past life.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and he were having a sleepover at Kurama's house. His mother was out of town for a week so he had to take care of the house himself. Chips and cans of Mountain Dew littered the living room, which did not make the red head very pleased, but it could be worse. Maybe. Hiei slept on the windowsill and Kuwabara slept on the floor, since Yusuke and Kurama called the couches.

The moon illuminated the room from the large window, shyly pushing away the shadows that crept inside the house. A full moon. How quaint.

He finally rolled over and grasped the zipper. It immediately zoomed up the side. The teen felt the bag slacken and he began to slide to the edge of the couch. He tried to move back towards the back of the couch. Too late, he realized. Kurama slipped off the couch and onto the hard floor with a crash, landing on his back. Rustles of movement alerted him to the other boys waking up.

Kurama growled as he heard snickers come from the couch to his right. Silence was followed for a few moments until Kurama tried to stand up. His foot was caught under the sleeping bag and he slipped and fell back on his back. This time there was an uproar of laughter from Yusuke as well as Kuwabara.

Kurama's eyes flickered to gold and his spirit energy spiked significantly. He felt compressed into his own mind as Yoko started to take over. 'NO!' he screamed mentally. 'You can't do this.' He was now sure that Yoko was no longer a thought in his mind, but a separate person completely.

"You think that is funny?" Yoko's cold voice asked the teens. White robes replaced the red pajamas that the old Kurama wore. The people in the room all tensed. Hiei jumped down from the window and landed next to the now standing Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Whoa Kurama, we didn't mean it seriously," Kuwabara explained hurriedly, obviously scared of the fox demon. They all backed away a few steps. Yusuke focused closer on Kurama's face.

"Have you been crying Kurama?"

Yoko pulled out a death plant letting it grow out of his palm. "When you die I will remember that." 'Leave them alone Yoko!' the red head mentally yelled at the demon. Then the two sides of Kurama fought mentally for the body.

Using his strength, Kurama started to gain control. His hair shortened and turned back into a crimson red. The white toga disappeared and his red pajamas were back. He felt Yoko get contained in the depths of his mind. The only thing that remained unchanged was his golden eyes.

He watched as the death plant turned back into a seed, which he stored in his hair. The fox looked up to see fear-stricken faces of the teen detectives and one very surprised face of a fire demon.

There was a moment of dreaded silence until "What is going on?" Kuwabara exclaimed. "Why were you doing that.

"I-I-I am very sorry." he said softly. No one replied.

He stepped toward them, but all of them took a step backwards, fear still on Yusuke's face. "Kurama, what is the matter with you?" Yusuke's comment made the red head's face turn pale. "If you do not want our company then we will go. You obviously have some inner issues." Hiei just stood there in silence, though it was just as hurtful as the other comments.

"It really wasn't me. It was…" he trailed off. "Me". He could not tell them about the dreams; they would probably go ballistic.

It was so stupid, for him to get angry, yet it wasn't really him that was angry. To him, when he fell it was rather funny. Why did he allow Yoko to get upset! He could have killed them all without wanting to.

"I-I am sorry. Please forgive me." No one answered.

Kurama fought back the wave of guilt bombarding him. He felt nauseous. Why couldn't they just say, 'It's ok Kurama, we know you are going through bad dreams and forgive you.' Unrealistic. He had suddenly become a threat to his friends. Who knew what would happen next time.

He grabbed his jacket and disappeared through the front door, not looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, This is the second chapter that I have edited so far, all in one day too. I'm on a roll.

The stars will mean that the chapter is edited

Chapter 2: Caught

His feet hit the pavement as he sprinted from the house. The house that he lost himself in. His breath came in cold spurts, clouding the air in front of him. He suddenly wished he was wearing something besides red pajamas. The current clothing was not anywhere warm enough to block the midnight frost. It must have been late. Probably around two in the morning. Hair, red hair he thought in relief, swirled in the wind, obstructing his sight. It did not matter though. Why should it? He had no clue where he was going anyways.

One thought came to mind. What was wrong with him? Tears now flowed freely down his face but he did not care. Kurama had never been one to cry, least of all in public, yet here he was, crying like Koenma would if someone stole his binky. Like a baby.

No matter what, he kept running. It always helped to clear his thoughts. Just concentrate on moving your feet. No worries. Akuna Mahaha, or whatever that silly show last Tuesday said. He almost smiled at the memory. Almost. Nevertheless, his thoughts and heart rate both slowed down enough for him to stop racing like his life depended on it. The rhythm of his feet slapping the cement pulled him into a quiet stupor. There were no footsteps behind him, charging after him, voices calling for him to come back. It could have been because they were glad he was gone, that they didn't care about him, Yoko's thoughts echoed through his mind. No, he refused, they are just surprised, I am faster than Yusuke and Kuwabara, and they do not know where I am. Then why are you running, his other half probed. He had him there. Or was it himself?

Shaking his head in confusion, he continued his race toward an unknown goal.

His thoughts trailed back to the house. Yusuke had probably chased after him a minute after he left. He was equally heroic and stupid in that way. Hiei might have sat around for quite some time. Longer than Kuwabara anyways. It would not matter for the ice demon, since he was faster than a speeding bullet, even one from a spirit gun as Yusuke had found out. That time was so long ago. When they had been enemies. Now, well they were not the chummiest bunch of friends, the four of them, but they had trust in each other. Trust, Kurama thought miserably, that he had snapped in two.

Slowing to a speed walk, he walked through the streets. The city was deserted mostly, with only a few people out. Though, from the looks of it, the group he passed not a minute ago were ladies of the night. Kurama ceased moving, feet immobilizing and breath catching. There was nothing like that in his neighborhood that he knew of. He observed his surroundings. The buildings were shoddy and graffiti embellished the street signs and abandoned houses. He had just walked himself into Murder Avenue. That was what it had nicknamed himself. Any killings or body dumps happened right here.

He hurried his way out of there, not wanting any trouble. He wandered for an hour, until his legs protested. They led him to sit under a large oak tree in a park. It was not familiar. Great. Just dandy. Now he had no way of finding his way home. Cold sweat beaded his fit body, making his shirt stick uncomfortably to his chest. He shook his hair out of his eyes.

It must have been five minutes, maybe ten when something crossed the red-heads mind. He wanted a change. Ideas came to his mind, all extremely different, when he found a change he could do. Right there. It wouldn't be the end of the world. Of course, he would miss it.

He summoned up his powers and grasped a blade of grass. It instantly elongated and sharpened into a dagger. He raised the dagger to eye level. Perfect. Grasping his long bushy red hair in one hand, in one stroke, he ran the knife through his hair. It sliced through it. Now, instead of being down almost to his waist, it was now up above his chin, spiking out in the back. Kurama gulped.

That was pretty darn short for him. On the bright side, he thought as he stood up and approached a nearby trashcan, tossing the excess hair inside, I won't be confused for a girl. The teen relaxed against the solid tree trunk, huddling for warmth against the morning frost.

That felt good, doing something sporadic. Forced his focus away from his problems.

He had about one minute…forty seconds before someone would appear, most likely Yusuke since Kuwabara was slower and Hiei would not just show himself right away. He dropped the blade of grass, watching as it floated lightly to the ground, shrinking until it was normal once again.

'I wish I were never a part of Yoko. I wish he would just get out of my body.' For a second, a brief second it was, the troubled teen thought will alone had won freedom of his thoughts. But then an irritated voice spoke up.

'I am tired of your idiotic thoughts. Your friends are pathetic and so are you. I need to take charge if you want to survive!' The voice in his head sounded aggravated but Kurama ignored it. He did not need this, not now.

Thirty seconds. He tried to concentrate on what else he could change. He could switch schools, ask to go up a grade level, or maybe—

A gasp ripped from his throat as his body swiftly morphed. He stood up and clutched the nearest tree branch as pain rippled through him. He hated forced transformations. They were excruciating.

He could hear someone shouting his name. Probably Yusuke, he was dumb enough to come near. Didn't he know that he was dangerous?

"Stop!" Kurama yelled to them, still staring at the ground intently. "Go back!"

Then a voice, not his normal kind, shy voice, also rose up. "I want to be free!" Yoko, Kurama quickly found out, was not one to mess with.

"NO!"

A burning light erupted as he yelled, consuming the entire park in a green hue. The three people who were approaching jumped back in surprise as the ground began to shake violently. The Tantei cautiously took a few steps back as they watched Kurama in awe.

The light sent objects flying into the air. The trio leaped back in shock as the light approached them. Hiei landed gracefully on his feet, while Kuwabara landed on his face and Yusuke fell on top of Kuwabara.

Hiei's eyes widened slightly. "That is his spirit energy."

"No. Way." Kuwabara's response spoke the other two's minds as well. "That is impossible."

The fire demon then grabbed the other two beside him, pulling them backwards at the last moment, as the light exploded.

It was as if a bomb had been released.

The brightness blinded everyone, leaving green spots dancing in front of their eyes. When the spirit energy died away, Yusuke lifted his head up slowly and stood up. The carrot top did the same. Hiei was already at the edge of a new fifty foot radius crater. They had been lucky this happened in a park, not a neighborhood. The two humans worked their way through the rubble and came to stand next to him, mouths ajar.

Fifteen feet below them, leaning against a tree in the middle of the rubble was a certain unconscious teen. But what really shocked them was about three feet away from the boy. Yoko Kurama.

Kuwabara continued to stare in utter confusion. "What just happened?" That was when he realized the fire demon and spirit detective had left him standing by himself and were now next to the kitsune. "Hey! Wait for me!" he cried, tripping over his feet as he ran down the steep ledge of the crater.

Hiei was facing Yoko, his original scowl plastered on his face. "Well, well, well. The boy did have power didn't he?" Yoko pretended to not know the answer, eyes glinting maliciously. "Too bad it couldn't be used for great things."

"Hn." Hiei was used to these kinds of talks, he himself had given a few back in his day. Before he realized it was pointless and to ensure all attention on him, he had to just get on to the point. Obviously Yoko had not gotten the memo.

An uneasy feeling in his gut told him that this split had not happened by chance. Something else was up. Kurama had been acting strange all day, as if he was planning on telling them something, but did not know how to. It also seemed like it had more to do with Kurama than anyone else, yet Hiei had not asked. He should not care about someone else's problems. Sometimes he hated having friends like the three around him. Too much emotion.

He slammed back to earth when a cold voice hissed in his mind, 'You had better make funeral arrangements for your friend over there. His soul will most likely perish from the pain. If it doesn't kill him it will drive him insane.' Hiei heard Yoko speaking to him through telepathy.

'Why won't you die?' Hiei questioned carefully. They needed as many answers as possible. 'Who is helping you?'

Yoko's laugh echoed through his mind. 'A friend. To answer the first, I may have survived in the boy's body, but I was already a whole soul before I was so inconveniently killed. I don't need him anymore.' Boy, he was cocky.

As they were talking, Kuwabara slung Kurama over his shoulder. The unconscious boy flinched and his face tensed as pain swept over him. His red hair covered his emerald eyes, but if you could see them, you would see them watering. "Dude, you cut your hair!" Yusuke cried out to the air.

"He moved!" Kuwabara yelled right in Kurama's ear, making him groan in anguish. He set the kitsune down gently on the hard dirt. Yusuke ran over from where he was standing next to Hiei. Kneeling down next to the red head, he checked for his vitals.

Hiei snorted and turned around. "You idiots! He isn't dead." Wrong move Hiei. When the fire demon turned back around, Yoko was gone. He thought a few choice words not gently used in public. 'Stupid!' he shouted to himself. He tried using his Jagan eye but it was being interfered with. He didn't need to guess who was blocking it.

"Dang!" he muttered. He was frustrated and needed to kill something. Finding no one suitable, he mentally counted to ten. 'One…two…three…four…five…six-'

"Hiei! Are you just going to stand there? We need to take Kurama back to his house! Come on."

Hiei nodded slightly to Yusuke's call and they headed towards the direction of the Minamino residence. It was lucky that Yusuke brought his compass.

No one saw the dark figure sliding into the shadows, slumped over, and barely having enough energy to disappear. Though disappear the shadow man did. Not even Hiei could hear the man's laughter.

/Time passing/  
/Time passing/

/Time passing/

/Time passing/

'So, it was Yoko and not just normal Kurama. We were so stupid!' Yusuke mentally pinched himself. He thought back to when they were all invited over to the kitsune's house. Kurama seemed uptight, nervous about something, but the spirit detective had figured it was because the perfect student was throwing a party. Without permission.

Mind you, it was not a gigantic party, no drinking, no driving, and definitely no smoking of anything, illegal or legal.

Any of those things were sure to cause mayhem, especially with powers such as the four present. The teen smirked as he imagined them being drunk. He could see it now, spirit bullets flying around and dragons attacking the neighbors. It was definitely funny, yet it would not be looked upon with pride in the morning.

Yusuke's thoughts were interrupted as Kurama's eyes slowly opened. The fox was laying on one of the couches in the family room, and the rest of the gang was sitting around him. Well Hiei was sitting on the windowsill again, but Yusuke was sitting in a chair on the right of the couch, and Kuwabara took the other couch facing Kurama.

Kurama sat up halfway and muttered sleepily "What happened?"

Kuwabara started, "Um, well, you and Yoko split into two different people... you were unconscious... we took you home… and now you are awake."

'Hn. Kurama, your human body can not take the splitting of the soul very kindly. It is a rare event when splicing occurs. The pain will be immense and it has drove people insane.'

Kurama nodded to Hiei's mental commentary. 'I will have to be careful then.'

He grasped the water glass held out to him by Kuwabara, muttering a thank you. A quick look in the reflection told him that he was positively human, short hair and all.

Human.

"Oh no," Kurama exclaimed and sat up all the way. Human in all of its glory. That meant…something occurred to him. He reached for a seed in his hair and pulled one out, waiting for it to envelope in his spirit energy. Nothing happened. It stayed a seed, lying on his palm innocently. "This cannot be." Horror enveloped him. He concentrated on feeling his spirit energy, but there was nothing. Not one single spark. He was utterly human, as well as vulnerable.

"I am completely human."

Kuwabara's mouth hung open like a dummy. At another point in time, this would have amused Kurama, but not now. He quickly realized that he was also displaying an unmasked surprise on his face. The expression was immediately pushed away, leaving his familiar calm look.

He forced himself to come to terms with the facts.

So he was human. So what? He was before.

He considered that for a moment before changing his mind. This time he had no defense or anything. Another thing hit him. His…being felt…what was the word? Split. That was it. Like part of his soul was on vacation, stranding the other half somewhere deserted.

He never liked his thoughts that came from his past life, but recently it had been too much. Somehow his memories of the past became another whole person, like split-personality disorder.

It was something that few knew of, and fewer knew how to remedy it. There were records however, about extremely powerful demons having the power to separate another person into two different people. Good and Bad. The two opposites would either go separate ways and end up killed by the separation, or kill each other in hatred of their opposites.

Only one other person of Kurama's knew about him being Yoko, besides his friends. The same person caused Kurama to have the party in the first place.

Fugiwara Shun. The man who envied Yoko since the moment they met.

Due to a certain agreement about stolen goods, Shun and Yoko had become trading partners. There had also been Kuronue, but he was more of a friend. The only similarity between Yoko and Shun was that they both desired power. In the end however, they became friends indeed.

After Yoko died, Shun disappeared as well, unseen for years.

Until three weeks ago.

Shun was spotted somewhere in Makai, the demon world, by a spy of Koenma. He was seen talking to himself, saying the name Yoko several times.

Presumably, this was Kurama's theory, somehow his other self had communicated with Shun and came up with the plan to separate Yoko from himself. The only flaw in that was that Shun had to be close by to even be capable of such a feat.

He winced again as agony engulfed him. The floor was spinning around him and his breathing began to pick up. It was as if someone had sliced his brain in half and attached it to an electric fence.

Thinking fast, Kurama pulled out some herbs from a small bag in his pocket and crushed them together. Then he dropped them into his water. They sizzled when they hit the water's surface and dissolved. Kurama drank the whole contents and set the glass on the table. At least something still worked of his.

"What was that?" Yusuke asked. His usually greased hair was down and made him look even more like Puu, his other self, similar to a blue penguin.

The kitsune looked up and simply responded "A very strong painkiller."

"Oh."

/time passing/

/time passing/

/time passing/

In an effort to keep Kurama's thoughts on something other than his other self, the four Tantei stayed up for the rest of the morning and watched videos of fights at the Dark Tournament, courtesy of Koenma. Everyone winced as Hiei disintegrated Zeru with the dragon of darkness flame. Yusuke about died laughing when Rinku was dropping Kuwabara thousands of feet to his doom.

"URIMESHI! WHAT IS SO DANG FUNNY!"

"You… you" he gasped for air, clutching his sides, " … you…" But his laughter started up again and he was rolling on the floor, grasping his stomach.

"I think the detective has finally cracked," stated Hiei with a smirk.

"You scream…like a little girl! Just wait… until your gang…hears this!" Yusuke finally managed to utter through tears.

Kuwabara's face grew bright red "You think that is funny! All right Urimeshi! Let's fight right now. I will prove to you that the great Kazuma Kuwabara is not like a little girl!"

It took several minutes for Yusuke to cool down and the laughter finally subsided. Instead of fighting, Hiei started a name-calling fight with the great Kazuma Kuwabara.

"Baka."

"Shrimp."

"Stupid."

"Shorty."

The list went on and on until Kurama quietly exclaimed that it was Yusuke's fight against Toguro on the tape. They stopped fighting to watch him beat the crap out of Toguro then started name-calling again. Kurama just sighed and leaned back on the couch. He appreciated what they were doing, trying to have fun and cheer him up, but he could tell that everyone's thoughts were stuck on his current situation.

Yusuke's snores alerted them that he fell asleep, not wanting to see Toguro and him fight. Toguro's name just gave him the shivers. The same went for Kurama at Karasu's name. Karasu was…Kurama did not know how to describe him, it was hard to think back to the tournament without getting goose bumps at the memory. 'Creepy and in love with Kurama' was the expression Yusuke had earlier expressed. They all seemed to agree.

When it was dawn, the two punks and the fire demon said goodbye to Kurama and left to go home. Both Kuwabara and Yusuke went to go home. And Hiei, well, Hiei just went wherever they felt like.

He still, after all had to kill something.

/Time change/

/Time change/

/Time change/

Four days passed uneventfully. Kurama sat in the backyard of his house, leaning back against the tree next to his bedroom window. His flowers were starting to grow less healthy because he didn't have his spirit energy to feed him. But he still watered them, keeping them alive. A cool wind was blowing lightly, making the weather perfect. He had just taken another herbal remedy to keep the splitting pain at bay.

He had completely forgotten to tell the others about Shun. With everything else going on, it passed right on through his brain. He sighed. Kurama knew he had to tell them soon.

The kitsune did not have school for the rest of the week because of a fire that spread throughout the entire building, burning it to the ground. The fire fighters did not know the cause, but Kurama did.

**_He was staying after school two days after the party ended, it was Monday, because he was afraid of to go outside. He had slipped to Yukina earlier at Genkai's that Hiei was her long-lost brother. Hiei was ready to kill, waiting outside the school, katana in hand. _**

_**The fire demon grew impatient, so to get the fox out of the building, he threw five fire balls at the large building. Moments later, people came rushing out with smoke and fire billowing out behind them. **_

**_Three more minutes passed and there was no sign of Kurama. Hiei growled and his third eye began to glow purple. 'There he is,' the jaganshi thought with an evil smirk. Kurama was running as fast as he could, heading towards Yusuke's house._**

"**_Yusuke help! Hiei is going to kill me!" cried Kurama as he reached Yusuke's street. He felt Hiei's spirit energy gaining on him and yelled even louder. _**

"_**Yusuke!"**_

_**A confused Yusuke burst out of the rugged home. **_

"_**Yo Kurama, what's up?"**_

"**_He is going to kill me." Kurama scrambled to stand next to Yusuke._**

"_**Who is going to kill you?" asked the detective, tensing up as they felt a huge amount of spirit energy coming at them.**_

"_**Hiei."**_

_**At that moment, Hiei appeared in front of them. His arm was illuminated with a black fire.**_

**_Tattoos started to appear on Yusuke's body and Hiei's flame ceased to exist, knowing that when Yusuke turned demon, they were in trouble. _**

"**_Hn. Don't talk to me." Hiei then sped off toward Genkai's temple. _**

That was two days ago. Hiei still didn't forgive him for the accident, but he was back on speaking terms. The demon had been avoiding Yukina at all costs. It had been two days ago, making the day Wednesday. The next week they would be going to Yusuke's school as well as Kuwabara's, splitting the students into two different schools to alleviate some of the numbers of people in each class.

Kurama sighed and stood up. At that moment, Botan appeared on her oar, floating in midair. "Hello Botan," Kurama said kindly with a smile.

"Hello Kurama." Her voice wavered slightly and she looked frightened, avoiding his eyes.

"Is anything wrong?" He knew something was wrong. He had a sixth sense, something that did not diminish after the split.

She looked at him and gave a fake smile. "Everything is fine. Lord Koenma would like to speak to you." His face changed slightly from a look of concern to interest.

"OK. Let us go then." He grabbed onto the oar and the two disappeared into thin air, heading to Rekai.

"Koenma sir, Kurama is here." Botan sounded hurried and once Kurama entered the large room, she left quickly. The demigod looked up from the large piles of files on his desk and jumped up on the desk, fury and disappointment displayed on his chubby features.

"Kurama how could you do something like this! I let you become a spirit detective and keep you out of jail and you rob the vaults here! Not to mention three Ningenkai jewelry stores and killed four humans!"

Kurama stood motionless in front of the desk, but his face showed a hint of surprise. "Koenma I don-"

"We have tape of you at each crime! You have always been the calm and smartest not to mention nicest Tantei member. I just don't know why you have done this!"

"But is wasn-" Kurama started, taking a few steps back.

"As the ruler for now of Reikai, I have no choice but to arrest you. You will be sentenced to life in a high security Reikai prison." Koenma hit a button in the palm of his hand. Immediately, a siren started buzzing and red lights in the hallways started spinning.

Kurama took another step back in shock, when it hit him. "Yoko," he whispered. Glancing to the windows and door, he started to plan an escape route. But before he could move, he felt many beefy arms grab him at the shoulders and feet. He began to struggle and felt his body slammed into the ground. A needle slid into his shoulder and a burning liquid coursed through his body. He couldn't be pinned down, not like that, he needed to breathe! He threw the bodies off him momentarily. He was standing now, and it felt better than being pinned to the floor. His phobia of a straight-jacket effect kept him moving. It would not help though. No one could help him.

He was technically the person responsible, yet it was not HIM! He moaned as his vision swam. Kurama staggered, thrusting his hands out in an attempt to grab something to support him.

"Pl-please…it, it…wasn't…fault" he trailed off as he fell to his knees. The guards did not even have to grab him. He was going down whether he liked it or not.

This was the part that Hiei would pull out his katana and start swinging, Kuwabara crying, and Yusuke swearing. But not Kurama.

He had never been caught like this before, in a trap, set up by friends. His reaction was that of a teen in anger and despair. He felt his emotions build. And build. He had never felt this much pain before, and not just emotional but physical too.

The arms before him felt as if they were on fire. They were shaking too, energy running up and down like lightning bolts. It came as a shock to all present when raw energy shot out of them, scorching the wall across the room.

But Kurama did not even think about it. He was caught. The edges of his sight began to darken. He searched for someone, anyone to help him.

There was no one.

The last thing he saw was a sad face staring at him from across the room, candy eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry Kurama."

"Please..." he mumbled before blacking out.


	3. Chapter 3

HI! I am so sorry that I have neglected this story!  I have been so busy writing another story and then my fanfiction portfolio got lost… Yeah, so I'm here now! Oh and Thank You SOOOOO MUCH to those wonderful people who gave me reviews! And to those who read but don't review, I thank you for reading it! I still haven't decided about pairings. I think I will just leave it with no pairings, I don't know. Everyone vote!  Chapter 3. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Uh let's see…nope!

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Chapter 3

Kurama raised his head slowly. He was in a white cell, much like one in an asylum. The door slid down from the ceiling, and if attempted or forced open, an alarm would immediately raise. His throat was dry and his shoulder felt like it was on fire.

Kurama shakily stood up, examining every inch of his surroundings. The walls were made of a bullet proof glass, and there were two guards at either ends of the hallway leading to his cell.

'When he said highest security, he meant it. Someone has to know that I did not kill those people but Yoko did. But if I try to explain that, they will either believe me or they will conclude that I have indeed lost my mind.' A sigh escaped him and he retreated to a corner, sitting indian style on the polished floor.

Then he remembered. 'Oh no! I don't have the herbal remedies!' The conversation between him and Hiei played back through his head. '"Hn. Kurama, your human body can not take the splitting of the soul very kindly. The pain will be immense and it has drove people insane.'"

"I'm in a bit of a dilemma."

After brooding on this for an hour, Kurama decided that he would need to talk to Koenma. His words planned carefully in his mind, the fox rose to his feet and made his way toward the call button. Kurama extended his pointer finger and pressed in the silver knob. A moment of static and then a husky voice came on the other end.

"What do you want cell 48771?"

Kurama ignored the numbers and asked politely, "I wish to speak to Koenma-sama. In person if you please."

More static, then, "I will tell him." The other line went dead.

Another hour went by and Kurama began to doubt that Koenma even got the request, until a teen around the age of seventeen stood in front of the glass wall, a pacifier in his mouth.

"Hello Kurama. You wanted to see me?"

"I didn't commit those crimes."

Koenma stared for a moment then shook his head. "Kurama, you are going through the stage of denial. Most prisoners do the same." Kurama was starting to feel a migraine.

"You misunderstand. I was split into Yoko and Shuichi. It was Yoko and not me at fault." Koenma shook his head again.

"I'm sorry but I can't help you and your mental distress. The denial will pass in a day or two."

At this point, Kurama was pacing the perimeter, a scowl much like Hiei's plastered on his face. 'If he won't believe me, I will have to try to contact Hiei. But I may not have enough spirit awareness to do that. For now I must get Koenma to leave.'

Stopping his pacing, Kurama stood in front of the glass. Eyes closed, he quietly replied to the demi-god. "Perhaps you are right. Goodbye Koenma." The fox made his way to the corner and sat back down, eyes still shut. Koenma glanced one last time at Kurama and left.

Once sure Koenma was gone, Kurama opened his eyes and stood on his feet. 'I still have spirit energy, not for weapons, but like Shizuru's spirit awareness. It should be enough.'

'Hiei.' No one answered Kurama's silent cry, until.

'Kitsune?"

'I am in Rekai Prison, being framed by my own counterpart. I brought no herbs here, and it is exactly one hour past the time I was supposed to take the remedy. The effects are starting to take control.'

Kurama paused as invisible electricity rushed to his brain, causing him to fall to his knees, clutching his head. His emerald eyes were hidden by a massive amount of red, bushy hair.

Hiei could sense Kurama's agony and apprehensively waited for him to be okay. Once the pain subsided, the fox rose to his feet once again. Then Hiei's voice rang through his head.

"We're coming." Then the telepathic line was cut.

Kurama thought about what the fire demon had said for a moment. "So

Hiei is going to willingly work with Yusuke and 'the baka'? That's something I doubt I will ever see or hear aga-" he stopped abruptly and doubled over in pain. Kurama's eyes widened for a moment, snapped shut, and he collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

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I know this is short. I promise I will try to make the next one longer. We will see… yeah. So I will update once I get at least ONE review! 


	4. Chapter 4

I am in a writing spree so I am trying to get my stories online. Thank you reviewers! My self esteem is back! *pop* YAY! Ok so I said that I would try to make this chapter longer, sooooo... Here goes nothing! Chapter 4! Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: (see previous chapter)  
  
Chapter 4:  
  
Yusuke was waiting in another clothing store, very impatiently. His arm rested on a short manikin with a blue and yellow checkered skirt. So to pass the time waiting for Kayko to try on more clothes, the detective started acting out (poorly I might add) one of Kayko's favorite soap opera's, 'Days of Our Lives' with the manikin.  
  
Yusuke: I'm sorry Mandy. (a/n I don't know! I just made up a name. Don't like it? Deal.) We just weren't meant to be.  
  
Mandy/Manikin: *sob* But I thought we were soul mates! *sniff*  
  
Yusuke: I was wrong. I am in love with your sister.  
  
Mandy/Manikin: NOOOOO!  
  
Yusuke pushes the manikin over in a dead faint.  
  
"Yusuke!" A frowning Kayko burst out of the dressing room.  
  
"Pick that up!" Yusuke didn't want her hand to meet his face again that day, so he hurriedly picked up the life size doll and smiled sweetly to his girlfriend.  
  
"Hn. Your acting needs work detective," a cold voice came from behind Yusuke. The detective swiveled around, face red.  
  
"Hiei! How long have you been standing there?"  
  
"Long enough." There was a moment of silence before, "Kurama's in trouble."  
  
"What?!" screeched both Yusuke and Kayko.  
  
"How? When? Where? Wh-" the teen was cut off with a glare from the fire demon.  
  
"I'll explain once we find the baka."  
  
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Beads of sweat covered the kitsune's face. A yellowish tinge mixed in with his normal skin color. A raspy voice was muttering incoherent words.  
  
In his mind:  
  
/He was running from his cell, alarms rising. In his hand was Hiei's katana. Guards were throwing spears at him. The hallways were illuminated with a glowing light, coming from a single room. It was Koenma's office. 'Good. I am out of the prison,' Kurama thought to himself. He thrust the doors fully open and stifled a gasp.  
  
Koenma was lying face down on his desk. Blood was flowing from his body and had made a crimson puddle on the carpet. Several stab wounds could be seen on his slumped figure. But was more shocking was what lay on the floor by the desk. Botan, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke were slumped on the floor, also with stab wounds that matched the katana in Kurama's hand. He backed away, dropping the blade, letting it fall to the floor. "NO! I didn't-I couldn't- NOOO!"/  
  
Kurama's eyes widened. It was so real! But he quickly curled into a ball whimpering. The pain was unbearable! His eyes closed tightly, and his mind started to create more horrific hallucinations.  
  
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"Kuwabara! Open up!" Yusuke's voice boomed through the entire neighborhood.  
  
"KUWABAKA!" The door swung open to reveal a surprised Kuwabara holding his kitten Eikichi.  
  
"Don't scare me like that Yusuke! Standing in front of my door just waiting for me to go outside..." he trailed off seeing Hiei.  
  
Yusuke and Hiei both sweatdropped. "You didn't hear me yelling?!"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"Never mind. Kurama is in trouble!" Yusuke looked to the fire demon beside him to continue. Hiei scowled and explained the situation.  
  
"So oaf, we need to break him out and get him medicine before he loses sanity." With a flicker of Hiei's jagan, a portal appeared on Kuwabara's door. The detective glanced at the fire demon. They both smirked evilly and shoved Kuwabara in, still holding Eikichi.  
  
"Oops," Yusuke exclaimed. Hiei just gave a 'hn' and they both jumped into the swirling abyss.  
  
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"OOF!"  
  
"Detective. Get OFF OF ME!"  
  
"Sorry 'bout that."  
  
"Grr."  
  
Yusuke quickly stood up and backed away from the fuming demon. Hiei got to his feet immediately and glared daggers at the detective. Kuwabara was smart enough (a/n imagine that, miracles do happen) to move away from the portal, still clutching his cat. But his large miracle didn't last long.  
  
"Shrimp! Where did you take us and why is Eikichi he-" he was immediately eating dirt.  
  
"NO ONE CALLS ME SHRIMP!" Eikichi was sent soaring into the air. Yusuke ran as fast as he could and caught the airborne kitten like a football. The carrot top was on his feet, steam blowing from his ears.  
  
Yusuke sighed and tossed the cat to Kuwabara who totally freaked out and barely saved him from certain death. "The cat is here because you held him the whole time when we pushed you and we are close to the river Styx. We will have to get across by flying and get to the castle/ mansion/ Koenma's Dad's house."  
  
"I thought even an idiot could figure that one out."  
  
"HEY!"  
  
"Let's just go." The two yielded to Yusuke's comment and made their way to Styx's banks.  
  
"We need Botan!" At that very moment, Kuwabara's cry was answered and they heard an urgent voice above them.  
  
"Jump on!" Botan was on her oar looking distressed. She lowered to allow the three to get on. "I went to see Kurama and he was curled in a ball on the floor of his cell. He looked really ill and he was whimpering and crying." The tantei glanced at each other and all grabbed onto the wooden oar. A minute later, they were at the front doors of the large spirit building.  
  
"He is at the bottom floor, room #48771."  
  
"Thanks Botan!" called Yusuke as they thrust the doors open and made their way toward the stairs leading to the Rekai prison.  
  
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'Ah. Life is good.' Koenma leaned back in his chair. All of the files were now in a different room, so he had no work. Nothing could ruin his day. *BOOM* He was knocked off his chair as Kuwabara threw the doors open as hard as he could.  
  
"You are a real mean person Koenma!" he roared and stomped over to his desk.  
  
"K-Kuwabara?! How did you get here?" stammered the demi-god.  
  
"I don't have time to talk right now, I-am-going-to-break-Kurama-out-with- the-shrimp-and-Yusuke-so-watch-Eikichi!" He then set the brown kitten on the empty desk and sprinted out after the other Tantei. Koenma just sat there for a minute until it dawned on him.  
  
"Break Kurama OUT?! GAH!" He reached for the alarm button and hit it. Instantly, the sirens started up and a small army of ogres came to his room. "Stop the Tantei from getting to cell #48771. Use force and weapons, if needed, take them down. They have all betrayed Rekai! GO NOW!" All of the ogres nodded and started hurrying towards the cell.  
  
"ACHOO! Darn allergies!" Koenma glanced at Eikichi and frowned. He sighed and grabbed the remote, turning his large-screen TV to see what was happening. 


	5. Chapter 5

Hiei was running as fast as his short but swift legs would carry him. "Stupid oaf," he grumbled under his breath as sirens screamed around him.

"Hiei, do you even know where you're going?" Hiei stopped short at Yusuke's call, sending the detective skidding on the white marble. Kuwabara was just coming into view and ran smack dab into the Yusuke, tossling the teen into Hiei, and sending all three to the floor.

The fire demon glared icily at a large heap of orange locks dangling in front of his face. "Get. Off. Now!" he spat at the victim of his wrath.All of the air, in Yusuke's lungs, was pressed out of him. He rolled onto his side, sucking in the dank air. Slowly, he rose to his feet and made a noise half sounding like a laugh and a snort."Nice going Kuwabaka. Now you have to endure Hiei's wrath and listen to him snort and say 'hn'." He stuck out a tan hand and helped the spirit aware human to stand up and let Hiei breathe."Whew," he said, waving his hands in front of his nose enthusiastically. " Man! Hiei must have suffocated from your smell!" That earned him a shove into the far wall. But he continued stubbornly. "And your hair looks like it hasn't been washed in weeks! No wonder he was glaring at it.""We have been over this! I DO NOT SMELL! And... And LEAVE MY POOR HAIR ALONE! HIEI IS JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND NAMED YUKINA!" At this moment the fire demon brushing dust off his cloak froze. His head slowly rose to meet Kuwabara's eyes and Yusuke swore that if looks could kill, Kuwabara would have already been dead. Pale clenched fists met the carrot top's temple and stars danced over his eyes.Yusuke stopped the ill tempered demon before any real damage could befall on Kuwabara. "Hiei, how about you take the middle, I'll take the right side, and the baka can take the left. We will find Kurama easier."Kuwabara nodded vigorously and then thought about what he said. "HEY!" He cried indignantly, but the other two had already disappeared.

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"Great," Kuwabara groaned. The prison was one big puzzle with twists and turns every which way he went. That was the point however, to let no prisoner the chance to escape. The teen slid to a stop as the hallway split once again into three tunnels.After a second of contemplating, Kuwabara returned to jogging, switching to the left path. Anyways, there were ogres pouring out of the other two halls so there was not much of a choice.Stopping at the end of that hallway, he spotted the entrance to the cells. They were about the size of a small room, glass walls, with white interior. Kuwabara ran up to the nearest cell and glanced at the demon inside. Large, no hair, purple skin, fangs, nope definitely not Kurama.It was after the fourteenth cell that he passed that he realized he was looking in the two hundreds! Muttering a curse to the air, he ran on.

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'Where are you kitsune?' Hiei tried using his jagan eye but it all he saw was white. Until a figure appeared in his mind, the person collapsed on the floor. The fire demon visible frowned and started to slow down his inhuman pace when he heard something that sounded exactly like footsteps heading his way.

He completely stopped, letting his black cape flow around him as he unsheathed his katana. Then he heard the voice found in his nightmares. "Shorty! He's not on the left side!"It was the 'baka', being chased by a handful of security guards. The fire demon rolled his eyes and considered leaving Kuwabara to his own problems when the image of Yukina flashed in his head.Hiei made up his mind and sped off, stopping on the corner only to grab a fistful of the teens clothing, pulling him to the side and out of the ogres path. They past by them and by the time they slowed, the two detectives were gone, zooming down the opposite path.Once out of sight, Hiei let go of Kuwabara's shirt dropping him unceremoniously to the floor. The demon smirked. "Hn. Hurry up baka."With that, his image blurred, leaving Kuwabara sprawled on the floor.

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"Kurama!" Yusuke was running down yet another white hallway. His hair was amazingly still slicked back and his caramel eyes surveyed the area, searching for the cell numbers. "48769, 48769, 48770...hey!"A solid door blocked him from entering the hallway containing the cell 48771. He tugged on the handle but it didn't budge. Yusuke grumbled a curse and stepped back, lifting his pointer finger."Spirit Gun!" A blue energy erupted from his finger and flew towards the metal door. The spirit energy bounced off the door and was sent back to the unsuspecting teen. Yusuke barely jumped out of the way in time of the spirit bullet, grazing his side from the attack.Glaring at the door, he got back up to his feet and pulled a pin from his pocket. Approaching the door he inserted the pin and twisted. The door slid open with a bang. Yusuke just shook his head, smiling slightly at himself and entered.-----------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I can not apologize enough for my lateness! I hope I did not lose all of my readers! sob Well I am back and I have been working hard over the summer. I will try to update ASAP but with so much schoolwork I can't guarantee anything. Also, there will be no slash in this or any of my stories that will not be on for some time. I am sorry if I lose any readers that like slash but it is just not me.

On a lighter note, once I put this online, it will be a little while but I will have at least four more chapters ready to go up! So I will make a deal with all of you readers out there. Give me at least five reviews and I will update the next chapter!

Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

For disclaimer and other random comments, look to the early chapters.

Well, here it is.

**Chapter 6, Enjoy!**

The smile faded quickly from the detectives face as he saw a body lying motionless in the cell several feet across from where he stood. Yusuke was frozen in place for a moment before his senses came back. 'It couldn't be Kurama. It can't be! Or is it?'

Yusuke quickly moved towards the cell, glancing swiftly at the cell number. 48771. Sure enough, inside was an unconscious Kurama. He looked less than healthy with disheveled hair. His face, instead of being a nice flush pink had become a sickly yellow, and perspiration beaded his forehead, as if stuck in a nightmare.

Yusuke could not even visualize the pain the humanized demon was experiencing. The door was sealed from the outside, and had no lock or handle. There was a button on the left of the door, connected to two mini microphones, one at Yusuke's height and another, two feet from the floor, obviously so the demi-god could open the door with a voice activator or speak to the prisoner in either form. This was only one of the problems, however.

The detective made to take his communicator out of his school uniform pocket, and lifted the compact to his eye level, opening the cover to contact Kuwabara and Hiei. Yusuke watched as an annoyed Hiei became visible, and opened his mouth to speak, when something caught his eye.

Kurama was glowing, slightly. But he was not actually glowing, for Yusuke could see him, but could see **through **him as well! The polished floor was visible through the now-human, and it only appeared that he was illuminated because of the shiny white tiles beneath Kurama.

"Holy cheese! You're going invisible!"

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Hiei was flying through the halls when a loud buzzing reached his ears. Pausing, he fumbled in his pockets until he found the communicator he had received from Koenma on their last mission. He had meant to burn it but had forgotten to do so.

The small circular phone-like device flipped open, and a small picture of Yusuke looking rather pleased. Hiei rolled his eyes and glared at the oaf finally starting to catch up to the fire demon. He moved his eyes back to the screen but Yusuke was no longer paying attention to the screen, instead staring at something in front of him that was not in view. Then he heard the detective exclaim, "Holy cheese! You're going invisible!"

By that time, Kuwabara had finally reached Hiei, wheezing like he was going to die in minutes. Hiei inwardly sighed and said in an aggravated voice, "Detective, did you summon me just to be stupid or do you have a reason?" Yusuke looked back to the screen. "The good news; I found Kurama. The bad news; I can't open the door."

"I thought you were smarter, detective."

Yusuke was then the one glaring at the communicator.

Hiei stopped glaring and gave a quizzical expression before shutting the compact, stowing it back in his pocket. He spared a glance at the panting teen behind him and raced off.

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Yusuke looked up as a black flash came in view. Hiei looked to be trying to lose something, and that something is known as Kuwabara. The fire demon stopped by Yusuke's right side, giving a smug grin to the charging teen.

Kuwabara slowed about ten feet from the others, falling to his knees in defeat, and slumping to the ground from bitter exhaustion. Hiei and Yusuke exchanged a look before turning to the door. "We'll worry about him later," the detective explained as if to clear his name of any guilt he might be feeling later for not caring about his friend.

The fire demon made a sound something like a snort and crossed his arms. "Well, looks like we need Koenma's voice to open the door," Yusuke stated, pointing out the obvious. He once again retrieved his communicator flipping back the lid. "Koenma's office," he spoke clearly into it. The screen was all static for a moment until a visual of the demi-god appeared in the small circle.

Koenma answered, but was frantically skimming through a file, labeled Kurama, Yoko. It explained that he is a fox demon, silver hair, infamous thief, cunning, and extremely dangerous. Koenma moved to toss it to the floor when fine print at the bottom of the paper caught his eye. Moving it closer, he scanned the paragraph. 'Weaknesses; fire attacks.'

With that in mind he turned to the phone. "Koenma speaking," he spoke to the phone.

-----------------------------------------

Yusuke held the communicator up to the microphone by the door. He pressed the button in, holding it until he heard a voice say "Koenma speaking". The door clicked and swung open with ease and they stepped inside, minus Kuwabara who was still on the floor, gasping for air.

Hiei moved to Kurama's left side and winced as he examined the situation. "He needs that medicine," he muttered, pulling out a small vial with a purple liquid inside.

Yusuke tipped Kurama's half-invisible head up and poured the concoction into his mouth. The now human started to cough on it, but the purple medicine was swallowed.

His body came back into focus, becoming clearly solid. Yusuke sighed and stood up, handing the empty vial to Hiei. Kuwabara stumbled in and looked kind of out of it. Hiei just gave him a look of happiness and walked out. Yusuke lifted Kurama onto his shoulders and followed the fire demon. Kuwabara gave a sigh of defeat and trudged out.

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Authors note: I had some trouble on this chapter, but I finally got it. Thank you SOOOOOOO much for the wonderful reviews! It made my life so much happier!

Just like last time. 5 reviews and I will update sooner. So go review! : )


	7. Chapter 7

I tried really hard to get this in on time; however, I had none of it typed when I entered the sixth chapter. I hope this is satisfactory, I have not worked on this story for a long time, there was a huge gap between chapters.

Thank you soooooo much wonderful reviewers! I was extremely overwhelmed when I read the reviews! They keep me going.

There is some fighting in this chapter, it probably is really lame, but I think y'all can handle it.

Any misspellings, wrong grammar, or if I forget something from the earlier chapters, please forgive. Oh and disclaimer can be found in beginning of story. Enough of my rambling! Enjoy!

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Chapter 7

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"Are you SURE it was this way?" Yusuke yelled for the tenth time.

"Just shut up before you die, detective," Hiei grumbled turning to the left.

A flight of stairs came into view, it leading into a large hallway.

The group flew up the large white marble tiles and burst into the ogre-filled hallway. The workers stopped whatever they were doing and all fell silent. Papers slowly drifted to the ground, slipping from several hands. The tantei skidded to a halt and Kuwabara looked around anxiously. Kurama moaned softly, twitching in his unconsciousness.

The movement on Yusuke's shoulder attracted many eyes, and a gasp went through the crowd. Ever single being in that room seemed to freeze at that moment. A woman's cry snapped them out of their daze and Hiei pulled Kurama off the detective's shoulder, shifting the red-head onto his own shoulder. With a blur of movement, he was gone, leaving the other two to deal with the ogres.

Yusuke roared, "Hey get back here shrimp!", and Kuwabara shook his fist at the disappearing fire demon. The ogres, done being shocked, started to drop whatever they were holding, some running in random directions, others charging at the two teens. Yusuke emitted a cry of astonishment before sprinting away from the oncoming workers. He didn't want to hurt them; they were good people, most of the time. He hurtled over an overturned desk and made his way toward the doorway that Hiei exited from.

Kuwabara was left to battle the ogres alone. Well, to tell you the truth, he wasn't feeling extremely happy to fight them as well, so he spotted a break between the mob and fled, being last, as always, to leave the scene.

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Hiei slowed to a ningen's running pace, glancing at each door until he found the one he wanted. He lowered Kurama to the floor outside the room and approached the door, pushing it open slightly. Hiei slipped in, slowly unsheathing his katana. Inside the large room was a gigantic TV, a kitten in a sleeping on top of a small blanket in a corner, a desk filled with files and stacks of papers, and sitting at the desk was a very busy Koenma.

The small demon flattened himself against the wall and inched his way towards the desk. Koenma was unaware of the silent shadow sneaking closer and closer to him.

Hiei leaned over him, ready to strike, when Kurama, outside the door, groaned and started to stir. Koenma looked up from his work and saw Hiei leaning over him with katana in hand.

He yelped in surprise and hopped down from his large chair, pressing the emergency button located under the desk. Hiei wasn't expecting this and hesitated. This gave Koenma the chance to run. He didn't make it out of the door though as he was pulled back and thrown across the room. The demi-god landed with a thump and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Koenma quickly gathered his thoughts and barely saw the fire demon coming at him. He cried "Wait!" Miraculously, Hiei froze where he was, lowering his katana a little, but just a little. Instead, he grabbed Koenma's by his shirt and lifted him slightly up into the air. "Why?" he hissed.

At that moment twenty guards entered, two dragging the barely-conscious Kurama. The humanized kitsune was still really pale, and his eyes slowly opened, examining his surroundings. They widened a little more when he slowly began to comprehend what was happening. He started to struggle but was it was folly, for the group surrounding him had him pinned to the floor in seconds.

Hiei took a step towards him but was stopped as a beefy guard held a long, gleaming sword to Kurama's throat. He whirled back to Koenma, who just shrugged. "Let me go or Kurama will die."

Hiei had three options; let Koenma go, kill Koenma, or let Koenma go _then_ kill him. The second and third didn't seem like much of a choice since the guards would probably immediately kill Kurama.

He looked up back and saw confusion gleaming in Kurama's emerald eyes. Then the fire demon caught an almost imperceptible nod from the red head. They both knew what he would do.

Thrusting his left arm out, he tossed Koenma across the room, turning in the process so he was now directly in front of the mob of guards. With the other hand he threw the blade in his hand and didn't wait to hear it hit its mark. He flew towards the group, pulling the blade back into his hand. Hiei saw the guard's blade flying to meet Kurama's throat but was unable to reach them in time.

Kurama saw the metal sweeping down and he forced his hands up to meet it. The sword was stopped in the air. Kurama's hands were clasped around the sides of the blade, preventing it from moving any closer.

The guard was outraged with this and tried with all his might to get the blade to meet its target. They were, at first, evenly matched but Kurama quickly tired and the sword moved inch by inch, closer and closer. When the teen thought he could hold his ground no more, Hiei, who had been fighting the others, saw his plight and tossed his katana through the air. It landed with a thump in the guard's heart and he died instantly, falling to the ground.

Kurama sighed and collapsed as well, his strength used. Hiei finished off another ogre and seeing as more guards kept on pouring into the office, he rushed over to Kurama and heaved the unconscious teen over his shoulder. Hiei ran to the window, breaking the glass panes, and looked down. What he wasn't expecting was to be so high above the ground. Hiei glanced back and saw that they were surrounded, the only way out was to jump.

Hiei looked back and leapt off the windowsill, plummeting down to meet the earth.

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You thought I was done didn't you? Well I'm not. I decided to be kind and not leave you readers in suspense. lol. Wait. Me kind? I think not. mwahahahaha!: )

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Hiei and Kurama dropped out of the sky, the short one's robes flowing in the wind. Kurama was still unconscious, muttering under his breath in hysteria. Suddenly, Hiei saw something blue swooping towards them.

He almost groaned but there was nothing he could do when he was falling towards the ground at an alarming rate. The fire demon closed his eyes and waited for the blue thing to catch them.

Sure enough, the two stopped in the air, several feet from the ground. Hiei looked up and saw the 'second most annoying being in all worlds'. It was Botan the ferry-girl on her flying oar.

She had Hiei's cloak with both hands and looked like she was about to let go. Quickly, the fire demon grasped onto the wooden oar and pulled himself, as well as Kurama up. He wordlessly handed Kurama to Botan.

Seconds later he was on the ground, running back towards the colossal building. Botan was frustrated at that and screeched "You're welcome!" In a lower tone she muttered "ungrateful… short…..demon…."

Hiei stopped as two figures came running out. A pack of ogres chased after the two but were slowing, and eventually stopped.

Yusuke and Kuwabara sprinted towards Hiei. Yusuke appeared to be yelling to turn around and to keep going. Hiei grudgingly did so and the three jogged away, followed by Botan and Kurama.

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The group traveled until the sun started to make its descent. They stopped a little ways into a forest, for Kurama had awoken and was feeling pretty miserable though trying to hide it.

Yusuke and Kuwabara set up camp as Hiei lit a small fire. Kurama sat under the comfort of a towering tree. He had just taken some more of the potion and was feeling much better.

Once everyone was settled, Botan said goodbye and flew off towards the castle before someone noticed her absence.

Night came quickly and soon all fell asleep, minus Kurama. No matter how tired he was he could not summon sleep. At about two in the morning, he stood up and went for a walk to try to calm his mind, taking his blanket along.

He walked on and on until he found a good spot to rest on. Under a welcoming oak tree, he closed his eyes and finally sleep came.

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	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Kurama leaned back on the sturdy base of a giant oak tree. He had only been asleep for less than an hour, but his thoughts awoke him. They wandered back to the point when he was in Koenma's office. He was of course being framed for someone else. 'We have you on video!'

Then it all snapped into place. Yoko! He had killed the ningens and robbed those stores. He would have been on tape because Yoko was him. His plan must have been to rid the only thing that stood in his way, Shuichi, and then he would go back and take over Spirit World.

Kurama started to stand when he saw something from the corner of his eye. A fleck of silver, maybe. He immediately tensed, reaching for anything to be used as a weapon. The teen's hand clenched over a stick. He could have punched himself for not thinking to locate a sword or something of the sort once out of the palace, but at the moment he was preoccupied.

Leaves wrinkled to his left. His arm swung out to strike the unknown foe, but it only met air. Confused, he spun wildly around, but was too late to dodge a fist coming towards his face. The impact knocked him back into the tree, head striking a branch. Blood seeped from the new wound from his head, yet he gave it no heed. His movements slowed, making it easier for the assailant to strike again.

He felt a blast of pain and looked to see a dagger shoved in his shoulder. Kurama could see a acid-green substance dripping from the wound. 'Poison' he thought worriedly. The blade was wrenched out and he could now see his shoulder. The green liquid was left in his body and slowly colored the area surrounding the wound a sickly green.

A punch to his stomach brought Kurama to his knees, gasping for breath. But he did not give up easily: his knee swung out and knocked the foe to his back. It took a moment to focus, but when Kurama's eyes met the gold one's, he knew his hunch was right. Yoko sneered and stood up, pulling a plant seed from his robes.

Kurama froze. Yoko calmly stood a few meters away. A gigantic plant enveloped his arm and large carnivorous teeth formed.

"You know that the _Death Plant_ is attracted to movement. But even if you get past it, your companions will not be so lucky. I have a band of assassins set up around the campsite. They await my order and the humans and short demon will be dead. So you can be a good human and come without letting your friends die, or you will come by force."

He looked to Kurama expectantly. He was bluffing about the assassins of course, but the human was not that smart. Kurama frowned and closed his eyes, fighting the urge to collapse from the poison.

That moment, a hand wrapped around his neck, stilling any motion that would come from him. The other hand wrapped around his mouth, holding a cloth to his mouth and nose. Kurama tried to hold his breath and it worked until Yoko punched him in the stomach, causing him to gasp for air. In moments, the substance in the cloth was inhaled. His muscles stopped working as soon as it was in his system, making his body wilt. Kurama's eyes drooped. The last thing Kurama heard was his brain calling to the telepath, 'Hiei. Help!' and he gave in to the darkness.

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"Kurama?" Hiei dropped from a tree and landed lightly on the woodland grass. His eyes scanned the area; a patch of grass was bent, where the red head had been sitting, and a set of footprints leading to it from deeper in the mass of trees. There had been a struggle, that much he could tell right away. Blood was on the ground and the base of the tree. Also, a scent he clearly recognized drifted to his nose. "Tallium," he muttered. Tallium was a liquid from the Makai, used on subduing creatures.

He had been lying in the branches of a tree above the campsite when he had heard Kurama in his head calling for help. Hiei ditched the humans and went to look for Kurama. Now he found where the humanized-kitsune had been.

Hiei dropped to the ground, searching for any traces of the assailant. A single long strand of silver hair was caught on the lowest branch. Hiei frowned. It would be bad enough to be captured by anyone, but it is worse when you are caught by yourself.

He stood up and started to walk along the lingering footsteps of Yoko. The footsteps were soft on the ground coming to the tree, but went further into the surface leaving, making it true that Yoko came alone and no others were there, save Kurama.

The fire demon sprang up to run in the trees, it was easier and you aren't as easily spotted, when a hand snagged his cloak, pulling him unceremoniously back to earth.

"Did you think you could leave without us shrimp!" Hiei groaned and turned to face Kuwabara.

"Of course baka."

"What did you say?!"

Yusuke stopped the oncoming argument. "Hey! Where is Kurama? Is that his blood?" He pointed to the tree.

"Hey! That is nasty!"

Hiei nodded ignoring Kuwabara. "It was Yoko. Follow me." He jumped into the nearest tree and took off, with Yusuke and Kuwabara trailing behind him.

The trail went on for hours. It was now sunrise. Then Hiei stopped. The footstep trail led them to a dead end. They stopped in the middle of a field of blue daisy-like flowers. But then the feet moved away from the field and they again barely touched the earth.

"Kurama should be here," Yusuke muttered to himself. Kuwabara had resorted to screaming at the top of his lungs "Kurama! Can you here me!?" Hiei was zooming back and forth, searching for any signs of the human-kitsune. But there were no leads except for a patch of flowers that looked like they just bloomed, while the rest were reaching the end of their time. They lost him.

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Kurama weakly opened his eyes. Tallium made the victim feel weak for a few minutes until the effects wore off. His shoulder felt like it was on fire and he could feel the poison slowly spreading.

'Why is it so cold?'

His eyes were met by darkness. He fumbled, with both hands together, in his jean pocket until he found what he wanted. His finger flicked the lighter once. Twice. Until it sparked into life.

The now human took one look at where he was and dropped the lighter. It clunked against metal. He was in an iron box the size of a large coffin.

Kurama mind whirled. Where was he? He was in the forest and then everything went black.

He hesitantly knocked on the metal. There was no hollow noise on the outside, which meant that he was under ground. The air was stale and breathing was slowly becoming a chore.

The human guessed that he had about ten minutes before there would be no oxygen left. Kurama opened his mouth to call for help. No noise would come out. It was then he noticed the gag in his mouth and the tight rope around his hands and feet.

Kurama started to panic. He fought against the bindings with all of his strength but they would not budge.

His brain was too jumbled to make sense of anything anymore. The chemicals in his system didn't help either. The only thing he recognized was danger and there was a lot of that!

'Aah!!!'

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Hiei froze when a definite scream echoed in his brain.

'Kurama?!' he called through telepathy but received no reply. He started to pace back and forth over that particular mound of earth that had fresh flowers. 'Where is he!' Hiei contemplated.

He was about to cut the communication link so he could think when a voice sounded in his head.

'Something is moving above me!'

The fire demon stopped pacing. 'Did it stop?' he questioned the distressed Kurama, but was interrupted by a voice in his ear.

"HIEI! Did you find anything or are you going to stand there while we search for Kurama?!" Yusuke was standing right next to him yelling in his face. The short demon was starting to fume.

"He was talking to me! You interrupted me and now he could be lost to us!" Hiei took a deep breath and zoned out, searching for Kurama, but the humanized kitsune was no longer on the link.

"I think I know where he is," he quietly spoke to Yusuke. Kuwabara had just come over and was about to chew Hiei out when he heard him speak.

"Well let's find him then shrimp! Where is he?!" he yelled, bounding over to the other two.

Hiei inwardly groaned and said, "You are stepping over him."

* * *

Well. That was interesting. As always, I thank the wonderful reviewers! It makes me feel like this story is actually good. 

Well I don't have much to say. Just that this chapter was made before chapter seven so I am trying to build the story and I hope it comes together satisfactory.

I really don't have anything else to say besides Please Review.

Five reviews and the next chapter comes up.


	9. Chapter 9

I'm BACK! You all are probably thinking 'where the heck have you been!' Well, to be honest, I have no real explanation except that I am REALLY TRULY SORRY! Since I'm being honest, I will also say that I have not obviously finished this story on a rough draft and have switched several things since my outlining began. But I will try very hard to catch up and hopefully by the end of this year, finish this story.

I also want to mention that this story has not been beta'd, if anyone is looking to beta, be my guest.

Now, without any more of my ramblings, I present Chapter 9!

For Disclaimer and extra nonsense, see chapter 1.

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Kurama had lost consciousness when Hiei had tried to ask him a question. Too little oxygen was in the iron box. He had only minutes left.

Yusuke grabbed a handful of dirt and thrust it away from the three feet deep hole. Kuwabara was digging as a dog would, with his legs spread apart and tossed dirt behind them with his large hands. Hiei was zooming back and forth, probably the reason they were getting so much soil clear in so little time.

Yusuke took another scoop full and uncovered something metal. "I've got something!" he called to them. Hiei jumped to the detective's spot and in seconds he had uncovered a metal box.

A lock was on the coffin thing. With one swipe of Kuwabara's spirit sword, however, there was nothing standing in their way. Yusuke and Hiei lifted the box with little difficulty. None of them were shocked when an unmoving teen was found inside.

Kuwabara checked his vitals and the teen's face turned a pasty white. "He's barely alive! We need to get him help!"

Yusuke nodded and pulled out his communicator. "Botan! Botan! Do you copy?"

There was complete silence as they waited for her to answer. Not even Kuwabara said a thing. The screen was still just static running up the image.

"What if they got her too," Kuwabara mumbled. Yusuke looked up at this and Hiei stopped glaring at the handheld device for a moment. If Yoko had caught Botan then they would all be in big trouble. Botan was not known for her ability to keep secrets. Yoko could figure out their weaknesses with a source like Botan. It was not a good thought.

Another minute passed. Kuwabara was starting to twitch with anxiety. After all, she was taking care of Eikichi.

"Botan here. What's up Yusuke?" a small voice called. They snapped to attention. A very familiar blue haired girl with candy eyes was able to be seen on the small screen. She was holding a small cat in her arms, its paws trying to attack the screen.

Kuwabara let out an ungraceful sigh.

Yusuke exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Botan, you really need to work on your timing. Wait, what am I talking about? We found Kurama, after he walked off, then disappeared, then was buried alive! He is hurt, almost dead." He paused. "We need to get him to Yukina," he added, glancing at the frowning demon beside him. Kuwabara let out a squeal of joy.

There was silence, and then the ferry girl answered. "I will try to contact Yukina. Where can I find you?"

"Meet at the edge of the forest where you left us at. Hurry."

"I'll be there in half an hour. Hang in there."

Yusuke closed the compact communicator.

(With Botan)

Botan put her circular disk back into her pants pocket. Then Eikichi was set on the marble floor before she pulled out her flying oar. It hovered in front of her as if waiting. "Koenma will not like this," she murmured to herself. Botan was standing outside Koenma's office where ten ogres were cleaning up the mess Hiei had made. A distraught demigod was wailing orders for anyone in the vicinity to hear. First one spirit detective went rogue, then the rest joined in. It was like a drive Koenma crazy day and Koenma was not enjoying it one bit.

"I want extra guards put down in the prison before someone ELSE decides to break out of jail. By golly if that happens again I will have to call my father!"

He had changed into his adult form to look more presentable, or as presentable as one can be after their entire team of spirit detectives just went haywire.

George meekly spoke up. "But Koenma sir, your father is on vacation. You don't want to face his wrath _again_…"

Koenma's eyes narrowed. Did you say something ogre?" His eye twitched dangerously.

"Nothing sir," George quickly replied, his voice raising several notes. The demigod had already turned away and was strutting towards two people who were not doing anything.

Botan winced sympathetically for George before approaching Koenma. She left Eikichi and her oar outside the door so they wouldn't be in the way of the workers.

"Excuse me," she called out as strong as she could make her voice go. "Koenma sir, I need to speak with you. Immediately." Her tone made no room for argument. Koenma looked up and nodded, following her to his desk.

She sat on the corner of the desk and folded her arms across her chest. Koenma made a funny look.

"What did you need Botan?" She cleared her throat.

"I know that Kurama is innocent and I can get proof. It was his other part Yoko; they got split into two people." 'Well that wasn't so bad,' she thought.

Koenma was silent for a moment before he started to chuckle. "I don't know what you have heard, but I have seen the tapes and it is definitely him."

The ferry girl fought the urge to burst out screaming. Slowly, she muttered, "I need to see Yukina's folder. I think she… might have something to do with Kurama going crazy." She quickly fabricated her story. "Yes, in fact I need to see the folder right now for evidence." She bit her tongue, hoping the narrow-minded leader would buy the lie.

Finally, Koenma opened his mouth, but was interrupted by someone yelling from the corridor, "A riot has broken out downstairs. We need help!" Koenma swiveled around to look at the door.

"They're coming!" The ogres in the room hurried out to where you could hear demons yelling and punches being thrown here and there. Koenma started after them.

"Sir!" Botan yelled, "The file."

"Oh yes, second cabinet under the desk. You can find it; I need to take care of the situation downstairs."

"And sir," he turned around, "will you just make sure that you are going after the right guy? I think you will see that you are making a mistake. I can prove that he is innocent, just give me a chance."

Koenma frowned at her for a moment before hesitantly replying, "I promise I will look into it once the riot is cleared up. Now get to work on Yukina's file." With that he disappeared out of the double door entry.

Botan sat stunned for a moment before remembering that she needed to find Yukina and leapt behind the oak desk and threw open the second cabinet. There it was! Right where he said it would be. Plucking the file out, she fingered through the pages. It said she was currently at Genkai's temple, learning more about her spiritual powers. "Perfect!" she cried, and closed the folder, slipping it back into its proper cabinet. The girl went to stand up when something on the desk caught her eye. It was labeled 'Yoko, Kurama'.

Curious, Botan opened the first page. Inside was everything known about Yoko, but on the front page it was labeled and highlighted, 'Weaknesses'. It suddenly occurred to Botan that Koenma was not planning to find out if Kurama was innocent or not. He just wanted to find someone to blame and leave it as is. In fact, he probably would kill Kurama to eliminate the problem!

Furious, Botan threw down the folder and glared at the doorway that Koenma had left from just moments ago. She quickly scribbled something on the cover of the folder. In frustration, she relieved the folder of its contents and went to where Eikichi was curled up next to her oar, which had stopped floating. The papers still in her hand and file cover left on the desk, she lifted up her oar and it hovered again and scooped up Eikichi. With the sleeping cat in one hand and the notes in the other, she took off towards the forest.

(Later with Koenma)

Koenma, exhausted, trudged into his office and collapsed into his chair. He half expected Botan to be there, but it didn't matter. Smoothing out his shirt he looked over his desk. To his surprise everything on it was pushed onto the floor. Everything except Kurama's folder. In bright blue ink, someone had written over the entire cover. It read in capital letters: "YOUR WORDS MEAN NOTHING."

He slumped back into the chair. It was true, he had told Botan a lie, and he was planning on pinning the blame on Kurama whether it was him or not. To tell the truth, Kurama scared Koenma. He was a genius, not to mention tremendously powerful. If he was on the wrong side, who knows what might happen. If he could find one thing bad with Kurama, he would put him away. After all, he couldn't have a threat to all three worlds walking around being surrounded by evil demons trying to turn him bad. Now he found that bad thing. And he was definitely going to use it.

(Yusuke)

"Alright, let's not waste time around here. We need to get back in that forest." Yusuke was back to making commands, much to Hiei's disapproval.

Kuwabara stood up from where he was kneeling next to Kurama's still form. Carefully, he lifted the human over his shoulder. He started to walk quickly ahead. Noticing he was the only one moving, he stopped. "What are you two doing?" he shouted. His tone took on a seriousness that no one had heard ever roll off his tongue.

The others shared an exasperated look. "Fool, you are going the wrong direction," was Hiei's response. Yusuke appeared to be trying very hard not to laugh.

The teen's face colored a nice shade of red. He swiveled his feet around and marched straight back. When he reached them however, he did not stop.

Shaking his head, Yusuke started after him with a smug grin on his face. Hiei took one last look at the would-be-coffin and sneered. If Yoko thought a box and poison would kill Kurama, he was fuller of himself then Hiei thought. With that, he rushed off into the woods.

They were half-way there when Kurama started convulsing. Surprised, Kuwabara's hold on him faltered and Yusuke had to rush forward to catch him. Hiei was up ahead scouting for any demons in their path. Yusuke lowered the teen to the floor. "Hiei!"

The demon heard the yell and ran back to find that they had stopped and were sitting next to a shaking, but unconscious, Kurama. He immediately knew what was wrong. "He needs the remedy," he said and pulled out the bottle, containing the humanized kitsune's medicine. He handed it to Yusuke. The spirit detective opened the bottle and poured some into Kurama's mouth. Hopefully, he would automatically swallow it or choke. Though unconscious, he did the former. A minute passed in thick silence before Kurama's convulsions stopped. But he still shook slightly. Kuwabara pointed it out to Yusuke, yet Hiei was the one to answer.

"He shakes because of the poison." He didn't add on any insult. "We need to go. Botan will be here shortly." He disappeared after that. Yusuke checked his watch.

"Hiei is right. She will be here in… ten minutes!" He helped lift Kurama onto Kuwabara's shoulder before running ahead. Kuwabara struggled to keep up and not harm the sleeping human.

Hiei was perched in the high branches of a large tree, at the edge of the forest when the others got there. "She should… be here…right now," Yusuke panted from the sprint. Kuwabara nodded from where he sat on a rock sweating profusely, his carrot hair limp, instead of sticking up from his head at a weird angle.

Yusuke was slightly irritated. 'Well then, where is she?' As if he had been heard, a gust of air blew in and the cause of it stopped not two feet away from him. Botan stepped of her oar, handing Eikichi to him, who in turn passed the kitten over to an over-excited Kuwabara.

Hiei curiously looked at Botan's occupied hand. It held a cluster of papers. Squinting, he could make out the words Yoko Kurama on the top paper. He leaped from the branch and approached Botan and Yusuke. Not waiting for permission, he snatched the pile out of her grasp.

Not listening to her undignified screech of anger, he fingered through the papers, standing a fair distance from the fuming girl. They were all about Kurama. Who he was, what his strengths and weaknesses are, etc. The weaknesses were highlighted. Glaring, he handed the papers to Yusuke who accepted them and began to look through them.

"So," Hiei began, "you decided to follow Koenma instead did you." It wasn't a question.

Botan's fierce look changed to a look of shock. "What? No! Never! Those papers aren't mine! I stole them from Koenma so he couldn't use them against Kurama." She turned to Yusuke.

"You believe me don't you?" Yusuke stared for a moment. 'Well, she could be telling the truth, she has been helping us, and she is here right now, but…" Making a decision, he handed the papers over to Kuwabara who was seated next to the unconscious Kurama.

He sighed, "Yeah Botan, I want to believe you. How about you prove it by taking us to Yukina. And fast." Yusuke glanced back to Kurama. He is doing pretty bad."

Grateful that someone trusted her, Botan jumped on her oar. "Let's go then! She is at Genkai's." Kuwabara leaped on first with his precious cat, eager to see 'his Yukina'. Yusuke then lifted Kurama on and grabbed onto the oar.

"I don't think we all can fit," he mentioned. But he sat down on the very edge anyways. Hiei rolled his eyes in annoyance and grabbed onto the oar with his hand. They lifted off of the ground and were soon on their way to Genkai's temple, all on the small oar, well, with Hiei dangling from it by his hand.

None of them noticed the demon step out from the cover of the forest. He held a communicator in his hand and began talking. "Koenma sir? Yes, we got them."

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OH! Am I mean or what? Please please please review and I will update again, I am almost done with the next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Well, we meet again. Wow, I literally just finished the last chapter not a minute ago. And it's about midnight right now, but I want to get started. I hope the last chapter was ok, it was my longest chapter, so far. Not too short anyway, I suppose.

For disclaimer and other nonsense see chapter 1.

Without further ado, I present, Chapter 10.

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Hazy smell, like roses and body odor, was the first thing Kurama noticed. His eyes were too heavy to lift, but he didn't need them to know that he was moving, probably flying, judging by the wind tousling his hair and whipping his feet. He gave up and fell back into deep sleep…

Kuwabara always enjoyed flying. It was such a thrill to feel the wind in your face and see everything below you for miles. Even if it was because you were thrown out of a fighting ring a couple of times or if you were being taken somewhere on Botan's oar, it was exciting. That is, until he rode today.

Botan was trying very hard to go fast and still keep the flying block of wood under control, which proved very difficult with four other passengers and a cat on board. It was a miracle it flew at all really.

He screamed as they dropped another foot in the air and clung to his cat Eikichi and the oar for dear life. Oh yes, this would change his feelings on flying for a long time.

Yusuke held on to Kurama tightly so the unconscious being would not slip from the oar to his death. The poison was causing the tremors in him to intensify, making holding him prove a difficult task.

As for Hiei, well, he was griping onto the oar for his life, literally. There was no possible room to get him on top of it, so he just held on it with his hand, dangling from it. As the oar jolted again, he was approached with the awful thought that if the flying contraption died out on them, they would all fall on top of him. Pushing that aside Hiei looked around him. With surprise he found that they were almost there. He could see the temple.

They approached it carefully; not wanting to fly into Genkai's many wards around the area. Botan slowed the oar to a halt about ten feet above the ground and gently lowered it. But it seemed that their luck ran out and the oar careened toward the ground. They landed in a pile, and it seemed that everyone landed conveniently on Hiei. He groaned. 'Why is it always me?' he wondered.

Botan disentangled herself from the pile and helped Yusuke up as well as move Kurama. Kuwabara was still shrieking like a lunatic and his eyes were large as saucers. Eikichi was protected in his arms, but it screeched just as much as its owner and raced away, the oar now its sworn enemy.

Hiei was still under the oaf's bulky body as well as the oar. "Get. Off!" he yelled and shoved the teen off of him. To his anger, the oar was still in one piece and flew perfectly over to Botan's outstretched hand.

Yusuke spoke quietly, "nice landing Hiei," his mouth in a small smile. It was met with a glare and "hn."

The spirit detective picked up Kurama and looked around. "What?! Of all the places to land Botan, you landed at the _bottom_ of the stairs!" The stairs would certainly cause them to break a sweat, with the hundreds of steps it had.

"Botan, next time pick a decent place to drop that hunk of wood," was Hiei's answer. Botan's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Well, if that's what you all think of this thing that got you here, then you don't get to ride on it up the stairs." She got on the oar and put Kurama in front of her. "Fine by me."

Their moods changed at once. "Oh no, of course not Botan," "we all love where you drop-parked that oar." "Just let us get a ride up the stairs, please!" Hiei did not join the other two in pleading; he just sped up the stairs, leaving the rest in the dust.

Botan's mind was set. She flew up the stairs with a too-sweet smile towards the two teens at the bottom. Kuwabara groaned. More time would now be spent away from his 'true love'. Yusuke looked slightly astonished that Botan actually left them, but began to trudge up the stairs. Kuwabara collected his frenzied cat and followed him, taking up last place once again.

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By the time the three, including the cat, got up the stairs, Kurama was already laying on a bedroll. Yukina was pouring her healing powers into him. She looked no different from the last time they saw her, besides the new wisdom she had in her eyes. Botan was sitting in a corner sleeping and Hiei was sitting on the small window.

Genkai greeted them at the doorway. Well, greeted isn't the correct term. She saw them enter the room and the old, powerful lady ushered them out, giving Kuwabara barely any time to set Eikichi down inside.

Yusuke noticed that she was acting nice, and it was scaring him. When they got back outside and away from the building, Genkai threw a punch at Yusuke. He barely saw it coming and fell to the ground to miss the blow. He stood back up fuming. "What are you thinking old lady!" he yelled.

She merely met his gaze evenly. "You are tired from the stairs. You need to be always ready for an attack. Have you learned nothing from your training Blockhead?"

He shook his head in disbelief. "I just don't get you Grandma!" The two had already began to argue, though only those who knew them well knew that it was all joking around. Kuwabara just stared in confusion. "O.K…you two are weird…" he just shook his head and went back inside, trailed by Genkai and Yusuke.

When they all sat down around Kurama, Yukina finished healing him. "I managed to get rid of the poison entirely, so he should wake up in a couple of hours." She stood up. Everyone could tell that Kurama no longer shook and some color was coming back to him, he was no longer a pasty white. Kuwabara stood up as well from his corner and rushed over to Yukina, giving her a bear hug.

"Yukina! You are a hero!" The girl blushed and said that it was no big deal, but he still praised her work with unending enthusiasm. And so the group waited for Kurama to awake.

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Kurama had become accustomed to the darkness. He had been wandering in it for it seemed like ages. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. 'What am I doing here?' he wondered. 'There was Yoko and a prison and I remember my head hurting…' he drifted off.

A pinprick of light began to shine in the distance. Kurama tried to run towards it and found that he seemed to be finally getting somewhere because the illumination only grew. Then he felt the darkness swirl around him! He fought more than ever now. Kurama wanted to get out of there.

The light grew and finally he could sense things around him. There were people talking. A throbbing in his temple made him squeeze his eyes closed tight. Then, with a little bit of trouble, he opened his eyes.

There were Yusuke and Kuwabara a couple of feet away sleeping on the hard floor, Botan was reading in a corner. Yukina was sleeping on another bedroll, Hiei was not to be seen, and Genkai was just entering. She took one look at him and saw he was awake. "How are you feeling?" she quietly asked him.

Kurama shrugged a little. "I feel much better. Did Yukina heal me?" Genkai nodded and handed him a glass of water. He took it gratefully; there was a bad taste of medicine in his mouth. By now everyone had gathered around him and they were beginning to tell their side of the story.

"Well, you passed out after being poisoned in a coffin thing under the ground and we had to find you," Yusuke began. He was interrupted by Kuwabara.

"You started shaking like you saw a scary movie or something-"

Botan cut him off, "I stole your file from Koenma and flew everyone back here, and we all fell on top of Hiei." They all stopped talking for an instant to reminisce that moment. Kurama welcomed the silence with open arms. His head was still pounding mercilessly. He pressed his hand to his head.

Genkai noticed and barked, "You are making his headache worse!" The group, guilty, sat back down where they got up from. The old lady turned back to Kurama.

"You should sleep. You need to gather your strength before we can hunt down Yoko." He nodded and drifted off.

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(Later the next day)

"I am fine." Kurama tried to get them to understand, Yukina completely healed him. He needed to speak to Hiei, alone, about Shun. Hiei was the only one who knew about Shun, and the only one he felt ready to trust with knowing that his fate and Yoko's simply depended on Shun. Possibly, if Shun could influence enough on Yoko to help split them, then he could get them back together. Unfortunately, Hiei left earlier to keep an eye on Kuwabara and Yukina, who went for a "walk", leaving him with no one to tell.

Kurama supposed that he could speak through his mind to him, even though he could pass out afterwards from the strain on his human form. Because telepathy was Yoko's trait, not his, it would be ten times worse to try it on his own. But he supposed he had to give it a try.

"Hiei, I need to speak to you," he voiced very clearly. Silence met him. Maybe the demon was too far away to reach. Kurama waited for a minute before giving up.

Botan continued to hover over him, mothering him. 'Mother,' Kurama thought with a jolt. 'She has no idea where I am. She must be worried sick, maybe she even called the police. After all, I have been gone for three or four days…'

Kuwabara and Yukina returned, both sullen-faced. "What happened?" called Yusuke, who had been discussing spirit energy with Genkai.

"That stupid midget caught us, erm…well… hanging out, and he, not to say it was right or wrong, it was his fault…" Kuwabara trailed off, embarrassed.

"Just spit it out then!"

"He just attacked me! So I fell over and he flipped over me, into this mud puddle. That was the angriest I've ever seen Hiei! He flew off so fast, I couldn't even see him." At this he leaned in closer to Yusuke. "I think he might have a CRUSH on Yukina!!!"

Kuwabara was very upset when Yusuke collapsed with laughter, and even the weak Kurama managed a chuckle.


End file.
